PROSPECT  PARK. 


MEETING 


OF 


THOSE  OPPOSED  TO  THE  SALE  OF  THE  EAST  SIDE. 


SPEECHES  BY 
MAYOR  KALBFLEISCH,  W.  W.  GOODRICH, 

EDMUND  DRIGGS,  and  others, 


BROOKLYN: 

THE  "UNION"  STEAM  PRESSES,  COR.  FULTON  AND  FRONT  STREETS. 

1870. 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


When  you  leave,  please  leave  this  book 

Because  it  has  been  said 
"Ever  thing  comes  t'  him  who  waits 

Except  a  loaned  book." 


Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gift  of  Shymour  B.  Durst  Old  York  Liurary 


Hon.  Demas  Barnes  : — 


Brooklyn,  March  18,  1870. 


Sir  :  At  a  recent  meeting,  called  at  the  instance  of  the  Park 
Commissioners,  held  at  the  Academy  of  Music,  and  presided 
over  by  you,  the  speakers  made  many  statements  touching 
questions  of  public  economy  calculated  to  mislead  the  people, 
and  charged  that  the  opposition  to  a  sale  of  the  easterly  side 
of  the  Park  arose  solely  from  a  party  of  speculators  located 
in  the  Ninth  Ward. 

You  did  not  invite  any  known  opponents  to  the  proposed 
sale  to  meet  you  in  discussion  of  the  subject. 

We  propose  to  hold  a  meeting  at  the  Academy  of  Music 
on  Friday,  the  25th  inst.,  at  eight  o'clock,  P.  M.,  under  the 
chairmanship  of  His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Brooklyn. 

We  now  invite  you  to  meet  us  at  that  time  and  place,  in 
order  that  the  question  may  then  be  publicly  discussed. 

As,  at  your  late  meeting,  no  one  being  invited  to  answer 
you,  we  deem  it  fair,  in  extending  this  invitation,  to  limit  the 
time  which  may  be  occupied  by  your  side  to  one  hour. 

If,  therefore,  you  will  select  any  gentleman  for  the  purpose, 
they  shall  have  an  opportunity  to  present  your  views  to  the 


meeting. 


Yours  very  respectfully, 


N.  B.  MORSE,  ALDEN  J.  SPOONER, 

SAMUEL  McLEAN,  THOMAS  DAKIN, 

JOHN  B.  WOODWARD,  H.  D.  WADE, 

A.  S.  BARNES,  ALBERT  WOODRUFF, 

H.  M.  NEEDHAM,  JOHN  B.  STRTTON, 

JOHN  D.  LAURENCE,  WILLIAM  MOSES, 

J.  C.  BREVOORT.  E.  T.  BACKHOUSE, 

EDMUND  DRIGGS,  GEORGE  M.  WOODWARD, 

H.  J.  CULLEN,  M  D.,  CHARLES  E.  HILL, 

J.  C.  HUTCHINSON,  M.  D..  and  many  others. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


https://archive.org/details/prospectparkmeetOOkalb 


PROSPECT  PARK. 


MEETING  OF  THOSE  OPPOSED  TO  THE  SALE  OF  THE  EAST  SIDE. 


A  meeting-  of  tax-payers  opposed  to  the  sale  of  the  park 
land  east  of  Flatbush  Avenue  was  held  last  evening  at  the 
Academy  of  Music.  The  audience  was  about  as  large  as  that 
which  was  assembled  at  the  meeting  in  favor  of  its  sale ;  that 
is,  the  Academy  was  nearly  half  filled.  Upon  the  platform 
were  Messrs.  Nathan  B.  Morse,  Judge  Thompson,  Ex- Judge 
Reynolds,  Gen.  Thos.  S.  Deakin,  Luther  B.  Wyman,  J.  C. 
Brevoort,  A.  Woodruff,  Jno.  W.  Hunter,  W.  W.  Goodrich, 
Edmund  Driggs,  Edward  Rowe,  Wm.  A.  Brush,  John  A. 
Goin,  Wm.  A.  Coit,  Jno.  H.  Funk,  A.  J.  Spoon  er,  George  M. 
Woodward,  and  about  twenty  others. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Edmund  Driggs,  Mayor  Kalbfleisch 
took  the  chair. 

The  following  named  gentlemen  were  elected  officers  of  the 
meeting :' 

Vice-Presidents. — Hon.  Nathan  B.  Morse,  Hon.  Calvin  E. 
Pratt,  Hon.  George  Thompson,  Hon.  Jno.  Greenwood,  Hon. 
Geo.  G.  Reynolds,  Major-General  John  B.  Woodward,  Gen. 
Thos.  S.  Daken,  Luther  B.  Wyman,  Samuel  McLean,  J. 
Carson  Brevoort,  Albert  Woodruff,  Henry  J.  Cullen, 
M.  D.,  J.  C.  Hutchinson,  M.  D.,  Henry  R.  Jones,  Edmund 
Driogs,  Charles  E.  Hill,  Edw>rd  Rowe,  Jno.  D.  Lawrence, 
Jno.  W.  Hunter,  Albert  S.  Barnes,  Gen.  James  Jourdan, 
Jeremiah  P.  Robinson,  James  R.  Mauley,  Jno.  A.  Monsell, 
Horace  D.  Wade,  James  Hollingshead,  Col.  Julian  Allen, 
Charles  W.  Godard,  Jho.  H.  Funk,  Wdlliam  Coit,  Alden  J. 
Spooner,  Russell  W.  Adams,  Jno.  T.  Barnard,  Jno.  M. 
Pratt,  IJeter  Melue,  Dr.  Wm.  Swift,  Geo.  W.  W ungate, 
Daniel  McCabe,  Amasa  S.  Foster,  Wm.  A.  Brush,  Abraham 
Allen,  George  M.  Woodward. 

/Secretaries. — James  Rddgway,  Archibald  S.  Lawrence 
Jno.  A.  Goln. 


6 


KEMAKKS  OF  MAYOE  KALBFLEISCH. 

We  have  met  here  to-night  to  discuss  the  propriety  of  part- 
ing with  a  portion  of  our  domain,  a  part  of  Prospect  Park,  or 
what  was  originally  bought  for  that  purpose  ;  and  the  invita- 
tion to  attend  has  been  extended  to  those  who  are  in  favor  of 
its  sale,  so  that  the  question  may  be  thoroughly  understood 
before  we  part.    In  1868,  on  the  8th  or  the  18th  of  January, 
a  report  was  made  by  the  Park  Commissioners,  in  which  they 
set  forth  that  they  needed  some  land  on  the  western  side  of 
the  Park ;  but  at  the  same  time  they  stated  that  they  had  not 
came  to  any  conclusion  as  to  the  mode  and  manner  in  which 
that  portion  of  the  Park  lying  east  of  Flatbush  avenue  should 
be  improved,  thus  giving  the  people  to  understand  from  the 
commencement,  that  it  was  their  intention  not  to  part  with 
it,  but  to  keep  it.    In  the  first  place  then,  I  believe  that 
good  faith  with  those  who  live  in  the  vicinity  of  that  part 
of  the  Park  should  prevent  its  sale.    The  plea  of  economy,  it 
is  true,  may  be  set  up  for  the  sale  of  the  eastern  part  of  the 
Park,  but,  gentlemen,  if  economy  had  been  the  rule  with  the 
Park  Commission,  no  necessity  for  that  plea  would  occur 
to-day.    [Applause].     If  through  their  extravagance,  and 
through  a  desire  to  continue  that  extravagance,  they  want  to 
part  with  a  portion  of  the  Park,  let  them  say  so.    The  Park 
to-day  has  cost  the  citizens  of  Brooklyn  in  bonds  and  obliga- 
tions, and  in  money  paid  nearly  $9,000,000.    They  will  tell 
you  that  they  have  expended  about  $7,000,000  ;  but  the  bonds 
out-standing  to-day  amount  to  $7,238,000  ;  in  1865  money 
was  raised  to  pay  interest  on  the  outstanding  bonds,  and  that 
has  been  continued  annually.      In  December  the  amount 
was  somewhere  in  the  neighborhood  of  $600,000,  and  the 
interest  upon  the  interest  makes  the  total   amount  Eight 
millions  seven  hundred  and  odd  thousand  dollars.  Aside 
from  that  the  Park  Commissioners  have  received  rents,  have 
sold  materials,  and  have  received  interest  on  the  money  de- 


7 


posited  in  the  bank  to  their  credit.  I  think  that  if  the  matter 
was  thoroughly  sifted,  the  amount  would  quite  come  up  to 
$9,000,000.  Another  thing.  From  the  money  appropriated 
for  the  improvement  of  Prospect  Park  they  have  been  com- 
pelled to  take  an  amount  that  was  raised  for  maintenance 
during  the  past  two  months,  actually  compelled  to  take  from 
a  fund  raised  for  other  purposes  to  pay  for  improvement  ex- 
penses. The  act  before  the  legislature  for  the  sale  of  this  por- 
tion of  the  Park  provides  for  its  improvement.  If  it  is 
necessary  to  raise  money,  and  we  can't  afford  to  improve  the 
portion  lying  west  of  Flatbush  avenue,  let  them  sell  the  land, 
if  necessary,  but  don't  empower  the  present  Commission,  at 
least  to  improve  it  first  and  then  sell  it  afterwards.  [Applause]. 
The  statements  that  they  may  make  are  unreliable,  and  when, 
gentlemen,  I  want  it  understood — when  I  speak  about  the 
Park  Commission,  I  mean  Mr.  James  S.  T.  Stranahan,  for  he 
is  the  Commission.  [Applause.]  Mr.  Stranahan  in  a  re- 
port signed  by  him  sets  forth  that  with  $500,000,  at  one  time 
the  whole  of  the  Park  could  have  been  improved.  He  spent 
$3,000,000  on  part  of  it,  and  then  asked  for  $2,000,000  more 
for  only  a  part  of  the  Park,  be  it  remembered,  and  with  an 
uncertainty  of  that  being  sufficient,  when  the  whole  was 
originally  to  have  been  improved  for  $500,000.  What  reli- 
ance then  is  to  be  placed  upon  what  they  tell  you  about  the 
sale  of  fthe  land  east  of  Flatbush  avenue.  To  show  you  that 
they  are  unreliable  in  the  statements  they  make,  I  may  tell 
you  that  there  is  another  bill  before  the  Legislature  for  the 
improvement  of  Tompkins  Park.  I  will  read  it  that  you  may 
understand  what  these  gentlemen  are  at. 

"  And  the  said  Commissioners  or  their  successors  are  here 
by  authorized  and  directed  to  improve  the  Tomkins  Park  in 
a  style  corresponding  with  the  other  city  Parks,  at  an 
expense  not  exceeding  $25,000." 

Now,  then,  Tompkins  Park  is  below  the  level,  and  illy 
•      adapted  for  Park  purposes.    It  is  within  a  fraction  of  eight 
acres  in  extent.    The  report  of  the  Commissioners  from  the 
last  report  shows  an  expenditure  of  over  $19,000  on  Carrol 


8 


Park.  Now,  you  are  all  aware  that  before  the  Commissioners 
got  hold  of  that  Park  it  had  a  good  and  substantial  iron 
fence  round  it.  And  it  was  laid  out— it  is  less  than  two  acres 
in  extent — and  yet  these  gentlemen,  after  telling  you  in  their 
report  (Page  30).  that  they  expended  $19,000  upon  that  Park, 
tell  you  that  they  can  improve  Tompkins  Park,  which  is  eight 
acres  in  extent,  for  §25,000.  They  have  expended  upon 
about  300  acres  of  Prospect  Park — not  more  than  that — $3, 
000,000.  How  does  that  agree  with  the  idea  that  they  can 
improve  Tompkins  Park  for  $3,000  an  acre,  they  having  ex- 
pended on  Prospect  Park,  which  is  better  adapted  for  Park 
purposes,  $10,000  or  $15,000  an  acre.  The  only  reason  that 
I  can  assign  is  that  it  is — in  the  language  of  the  gentlemen 
here  the  other  night — that  it  is  in  the  land  of  pigs  and  poverty. 
Or  take  Washington  Park.  Fifteen  years  ago  it  was  in  a 
better  condition  than  it  is  at  the  present  day.  Could  Wash- 
ington Park  have  not  been  improved  for  $3,000  an  acre? 
Well,  they  have  spent  $3,000  an  acre  over  it  already,  and 
have  not  begun  to  beautify  or  improve  it  yet.  Another  rea- 
son why  the  present  Commission  should  not  be  continued  in 
power  is  because  they  do  not  obey  the  laws  that  are  enacted 
for  their  government.  And  here  I  may  say  that  every  law 
relating  to  Park  matters  is  concocted  between  Mr.  Jas.  S.  T. 
Stranahan  and  his  legal  adviser,  Mr.  John  N.  Taylor  ;  and 
the  Commissioners,  though  they  are  only  the  creatures  of 
these  laws,  don't  obey  them.  Look  at  this  fact.  In  1867  one 
provision  was  made  for  the  improvement  of  Washington  Park- 
The  law  provided  that  they  shoud  put  round  it,  from  moneys 
to  be  raised  for  that  purpose,  a  substantial  iron  fence,  and  the 
work  was  to  be  finished  on  or  before  the  first  day  of  January, 
1868. 

Has  any  gentleman  here  seen  any  thing  of  an  iron  fence 
round  Washington  Park  ?  I  have  not.  And  that  was  more 
than  two  years  ago.  The  act  was  mandatory,  but  they  have  not 
obeyed  it.  But  aside  from  these  considerations,  there  is  a  stil] 
greater  danger.  I  don't  know  whether  it  was  an  oversight 
on  the  part  of  my  predecessor  or  not ;  but'  it  strikes  me  if  I 


9 


had  been  Mayor  when  the  Legislature  had  only  gramed  au- 
thority for  the  issue  of  $500,000  worth  of  bonds,  that  I  would 
never  have  put  my  name  down  for  100,000.  [Loud  ap- 
plause.] It  was  some  time  after  I  had  been  in  office  again 
when  1  looked  over  these  laws.  The  original  law  provided 
that  bonds  should  be  issued  and  the  money  raised  and  paid 
out  of  the  City  Treasury  upon  drafts  for  work  done  and  ex- 
penses incurred  by  the  Park  Commission.  This  law  was  no^ 
obeyed  at  all.  I  can't  tell  who  is  to  blame  for  it,  but  I  sup- 
pose the  parties  who  did  not  attend  to  the  duties  imposed 
upon  them.  The  mode  and  manner  by  which  these  bonds 
were  sold,  and  the  money  was  raised  was  the  simple  requisi- 
tion by  the  Park  Commissioners  upon  the  Comptroller  for 
$200,000  or  $300,000,  as  the  case  might  be  The  bonds  were 
then  issued  and  sold,  and  the  proceeds  were  deposited  in  bank 
to  the  credit  of  the  Park  Commission,  and  they  drew  upon 
it  as  they  pleased.  If  it  is  necessary  to  spend  $2,000,000 
more  to  finish  Prospect  Park,  let  us  at  least  put  some  sort  of 
check  upon  these  parties  who  now  spend  our  money  so  extrav- 
agantly. [Applause.]  The  Common  Council,  a  body  elected 
by  the  people  themselves,  cannot  spend  $100  without  letting 
the  people  know  through  the  papers  what  it  is  for  ;  and  they 
Can't  give  the  work  to  some  brother,  or  some  wife's  brother, 
some  wife's  uncle,  or  some  other  favorite  friend,  but  they 
must  advertise  for  proposals,  and  give  the  contract  to  the  low- 
est bidder.  [Applause  and  laughter.]  Work  upon  the  Park 
is  gi^en  to  favorites. 

They  go  to  Boston  and  Maine,  and  all  over  the  earth  almost, 
to  give  the  work  to  some  friend  here  or  some  friend  there.  It 
mav  be  said:  You  are  one  of  the  Commissioners  yourself,  ex- 
qfficio.  I  am ;  but  I  am  a  good  deal  like  the  figure-head  upon 
an  old-fashioned  brig — I  may  be  some  ornament ;  but  I  am 
of  very  little  use.  During  last  fall,  the  Park  money  was 
expended,  and  1  wanted  the  Commission — or  Mr.  Stranahan — 
to  discharge  everybody  upon  the  Park,  except  such  force  as 
was  absolutely  necessary  for  the  protection  of  the  property. 
Mr.  Low,  a  very  kindly  sort  of  gentleman  when  he  has  a 


10 


mind  to  be,  drew  up  a  resolution  for  the  discharge  of  the  Park 
force,  and  I  offered  an  amendment  to  this  effect:  "Except 
such  force  as  is  necessary  for  the  protection  of  the  property." 
There  were  engineers  drawing  $S,000  a  year,  and  some  others 
drawing  §2,500  or  §3,000  a  year;  and  we  thought,  if  the 
laborers  were  discharged,  that  we  might  as  well  discharge 
some  of  those  who  were  drawing  the  most  money.  But  the 
engineers  were  kept  on,  and  the  excuse  was  made  that  they 
were  completing  the  report  to  be  handed  in  in  January. 
And  these  individuals  are  still  on  the  Park,  with  not  a  dollar 
in  the  treasury  to  pay  their  salaries.  But  they  are  there ;  and 
when  I  complained  ot  this  at  the  meeting  of  the  Commis- 
sioners, I  was  met  with  the  resolution — that  only  such  force 
as  was  necessary  should  be  kept  at  work  on  the  Park.  Now 
I  can't  see,  for  the  life  of  me,  how  engineers,  who  are  half  the 
time  in  Chicago,  or  somewhere  else  out  of  the  city,  are  per- 
sons necessary  for  the  protection  of  the  Park  property.  [Ap- 
plause.] One  of  them  went  to  Europe  some  time  ago,  and 
they  paid  him  his  salary  while  he  was  on  a  three  months' 
leave  of  absence,  and  a  thousand  dollars  besides,  to  get  his 
little  nick-nacks  with;  and  one  of  the  Commissioners,  who 
was  in  ill  health,  went  too — I  suppose,  to  keep  him  company. 
Don't  you  think,  if  they  had  exercised  ordinary  economy, 
that  with  the  money  already  raised  they  might  have  improved 
that  portion  of  the  Park  which  lies  east  as  well  as  of  that 
portion  they  have  got  through  with  west.  An  objection  is 
made  to  having  an  avenue  run  through  the  Park.  There  is 
no  objection  to  having  railroads  through  the  park  in  Phila- 
delphia. If  they  had  taken  the  money  they  have  spent  for 
bridges,  where  they  were  not  necessary,  they  could  have  used 
it  for  erecting  bridges  over  this  street ;  they  would  have  looked 
just  as  beautiful,  and  more  attractive,  than  those  they  have  put 
in  the  western  part  of  the  Park. 

There  is  another  thing  which  I  might  as  well  allude  to 
now :  The  western  portion  of  the  Park  is  intended,  judging 
from  the  manner  in  which  it  has  been  laid  out,  for  gentlemen 
who  have  styltsh  horses  and  beautiful  turnouts.    There  is 


11 


another  class  of  people  who  have  to  pay  their  share  of  the 
expense  of  this  Park,  who,  perhaps,  would  like  to  enjoy 
themselves  in  their  own  way,  where  they  could  sit  down  after 
their  walk  and  look  over  the  surrounding  country  and  enjoy 
the  beautiful  scenery.    If  the  western  part  of  the  Park  is 
to  be  chiefly  for  carriages,  let  the  working  men  from  the 
region  of  "poverty  and   pigs"   have   that  portion  of  it 
east  of  Flatbush  Avenue.    I  feel  with  some  warmth  upon 
this   subject,   and   perhaps   I   have   said    more    than  I 
ought  as   the  presiding  officer   of  this  meetiug.  There 
are    some   gentlemen  here  who  will  take  up  the  subject 
and  discuss  it,  whether   it   is  right    or   not  to  sell  that 
part  of  the  park  east  of  Flatbush  Avenue,  and  then  I  suppose 
they  will  be  willing  to  hear  those  who  are  on  the  other  side  of 
the  question.    In  order  to  arrive  at  a  full  understanding  of 
the  question  both  sides  should  be  heard,  and   I  think  it  was 
wrong  on  the  part  of  the  meeting  held  here  the  other  night 
that  only  one  side  was  heard.  [Applause.] 


Mr.  Nathan  B.  Morse  read  the  following  resolutions : 
Whereas,  It  is  proposed  by  the  Park  Commissioners  that  a 
portion  of  the  lands  acquired  by  the  city  and  set  apart  for  a 
Park  easterly  of  Flatbush  avenue,  should  be  sold,  and  they 
have  prepared  an  act  for  that  purpose,  to  present  to  the  Legis- 
lature of  the  State : 

Resolved,  1.  That  we  earnestly  protest  and  remonstrate 
against  the  sale  of  any  part  of  the  land  acquired  by  this  city 
for  a  public  Park,  and  especially  to  a  sale  of  the  portion  east 
of  Flatbush  avenue,  which  forms  one  of  the  most  distinguish- 
ing features  of  the  Park,  and  from  which  its  very  name  is 
derived. 

2.  That  good  faith  and  the  interests  of  the  city  alike  demand 
that  the  land  thus  proposed  to  be  sold,  be  immediately  laid  out 
and  used  for  Park  purposes,  and  if  the  present  Commissioners 
and  the  architects  employed  by  them  are  incapable  of  devising 


12 


a  plan  for  the  improvement  of  this  land,  we  would  recommend 
that  they  give  place  to  others  who  not  only  have  the  capacity 
to  design  a  proper  plan  for  that  purpose,  but  the  will  to  exe- 
cute it. 

3.  That  the  land  in  question  is  in  the  line  of  the  present 
and  prospective  growth  of  the  city,  and  is  already  the  centre 
of  a  large  population,  which  will  rapidly  increase  when  that 
part  of  the  Park  is  laid  out  and  improved.  That  from  its 
highest  point  a  view  is  obtained  of  the  cities  of  New  York 
and  Brooklyn  and  their  harbors,  a  large  portion  of  New 
Jersey,  Staten  Island  and  Long  Island,  and  of  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  in  the  distance,  and  it  was  this  peculiar  and  desirable 
feature  wThich  commended  the  selection  of  that  particular 
section  of  land  to  the  originators  of  the  Park  and  the  citizens 
of  Brooklyn  in  general,  as  appears  by  the  first  annual  report 
of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Park. 

4.  That  we  are  unalterably  opposed  to  all  trading  and 
speculating  by  the  city  in  real  estate  as  impolitic  and  unfair 
to  the  owners  of  land  acquired  for  public  use;  and  that  nei- 
ther public  necessity  nor  public  sentiment  calls  for  the  sale  of 
land  taken  and  set  apart  for  a  Park,  and  to  the  use  of  which 
for  that  purpose,  and  for  that  purpose  only,  the  good  faith 
of  the  city  stands  pledged. 

5.  That  no  more  City  Bonds  should  be  issued  for  Park 
purposes. 

6.  That  a  copy  of  the  foregoing  resolutions,  signed  by  the 
officers  of  this  meeting  be  transmitted  to  every  Representative 
and  Senator  at  Albany,  and  that  they  be  requested  to  use  all 
honorable  efforts  to  carry  them  into  effect. 

They  were  adopted  with  only  one  dissentient  voice. 

On  hearing  the  announcement  of  the  vote,  Mr.  N.  B. 
Morse  remarked — "  And  he  sympathizes  with  poverty  and 
pigs." 


REMARKS  OF  HON.  W.  W.  GOODRICH. 


Hon.  W.  W.  Goodrich  was  then  introduced.  He  said  that 
he  considered  it  an  evidence  of  the  healthy  condition  of  the 
body  politic  that  so  large  and  respectable  an  audience  could 
be  collected  to  discuss  a  subject  so  dull  as  the  taxes  of  the 
city,  without  any  appeal  to  what  one  of  the  speakers  at  the 
Park  Commissioners'  meeting,  a  few  evenings  since,  denomi- 
nated the  "  pigs  and  poverty  "  of  the  Ninth  Ward,  a  meeting 
gathered  without  the  unauthorized  use  of  names,  without 
the  circulation  of  deceptive  petitions  concealing  its  real  ob- 
jects, such  as  were  circulated  by  the  Park  Commissioners 
within  the  last  thirty  days. 

What  1  say  to  you  to-night  I  shall  place  under  three  heads : 

Whether  the  sale  of  this  Park  land  would  be  honorable. ; 

Whether  it  is  lawful ;  and 

Whether,  in  any  view,  it  is  expedient. 

In  1859  a  number  of  gentlemen  were  appointed  by  the 
Legislature  to  select  and  locate  a  park ;  they  were  taken  from 
all  parts  of  the  city,  and  represented  all  classes  of  citizens  and 
their  various  opinions  upon  park  questions.  The  park  was  to 
be  selected  with  reference  to  thtfprospective  growth  of  the  city 
of  Brooklyn.  No  better  citizens  are  in  the  Park  Commission 
to-day  than  were  in  that  Commission.  They  carefully  ex- 
amined the  various  places  which  were  recommended  to  them 
for  selection,  and  finally  made  their  report  to  the  Legislature  of 
1860,  in  which  they  recommended  and  selected  a  plot  of 
ground  on  the  east  and  west  sides  of  Flatbush  Avenue  in 
almost  equal  proportions — 137  acres  on  the  east,  and  about  190 
acres  on  the  west. 

The  Legislature  of  that  year  passed  an  act  appointing  Com- 


14 


inissioners  who,  it  will  be  observed,  were  not  recommended 

by  any  representative  body,  or  selected  by  the  people.  The 
act  also  provided  for  the  taking  and  laying  out  of  the  lands. 

The  law,  of  which  they  were  the  creatures,  directed  the  im- 
provement of  the  whole  Park — whether  then,  or  a  year,  or 
two  years  afterwards,  I  don't  undertake  to  say.  The  Park 
Commissioners  expressed  their  satisfaction  with  the  plot 
selected.  In  1861  they  issued  a  pamphlet,  and  we  have  been 
favored  with  one  annually  ever  since  that  time ;  a  pamphlet 
which,  in  later  years,  has  been  adorned  with  photographs  and 
engravings,  which  are  well  enough  in  their  way,  but  have 
little  to  do  with  the  Park.  In  1862  and  1863  the  Commis- 
sioners again  approved,  endorsed,  and  expressed  their  satisfac- 
tion with  this  easterly  side  of  the  Park,  and  its  adaptability 
to  Park  purposes;  and  so  again  in  1864  and  1865.  In  1865, 
however,  after  they  had  issued  their  report,  a  change  seemed  to 
have  come  over  the  spirit  of  their  dream.  Perhaps  a  slight 
review  of  the  history  of  the  Commission  may  give  us  some 
light  on  the  subject,  and  the  causes  of  this  sudden  change  of 
views. 

After  the  present  head  of  the  Park  Commission  came 
into  place,  there  became  manifest  a  gradual  elimination  and 
weeding  out  from  the  Park  Commission  of  every  gentleman 
who  did  not  reside  in  a  certain  section  of  the  city.  Then  it 
was  discovered  by  the  Commissioners  that  the  land  on  the 
easterly  side  was  not  adapted  to  park  purposes.  But  there's 
a  higher  power  than  the  Park  Commission,  even  the  people, 
who  have,  over  and  over  again,  expressed  their  satisfaction 
with  this  beautiful  side  of  the  Park.  It  has  beautiful  glens 
and  sequestered  nooks,  and  one  of  the  finest  outlooks,  while, 
from  its  highest  elevation,  your  vision  stretches  to  the  north 
far  up  to  the  Palisades  on  the  Hudson,  and  to  Staten  Island 
westward,  with  a  view  of  the  ocean  to  the  south  and  east. 

This  is  my  argument,  I  insist  that  the  Legislature  and  the 
people  having  fixed  and  defined  the  boundaries  of  that  Park  to 
be  what  they  are  now,  public  faith,  public  decency,  and  the  hon. 
or  of  the  cit}r,  demand  that  they  should  be  unchanged.  [Ap- 


15 


plause.]  In  1868,  in  128  blocks  in  the  Eighth  Ward,  towards 
Greenwood,  there  were  built  285  houses.  In  an  equal  num- 
ber of  blocks  in  the  Ninth  Ward,  gentlemen,  (and  that  is 
only  a  portion  of  the  city,  which  lies  adjacent  to  the  east- 
erly side,)  there  were  built  upwards  of  TOO  houses.  The 
valuation  of  the  buildings  thus  erected  in  the  Eighth 
Ward  was  $364,000,  and  those  in  the  Ninth  Ward  over 
a  million.  Thus,  it  is  manifest,  that  many  people  se- 
lected these  localities  as  their  homes.  Why  ?  Because  the 
attractiveness  of  the  Park  drew  towards  it  a  good  class  of 
citizens.  Many  invested,  without  actually  erecting  houses, 
in  lots,  or  in  loans  to  others  upon  lots.  If  you  sell  this  land, 
you  reduce  the  security  by  reducing  the  value  of  these  mort- 
gaged lots.  I  have  here  on  the  table  an  affidavit  from  a 
gentleman  in  the  city  of  New  York,  that  he,  believing  the 
boundary  of  the  Park  to  be  fixed,  recently  purchased  two  lots 
in  the  Ninth  Ward,  facing  Washington  Avenue,  and  paid 
$7,800  for  them.  Remove  the  Park,  gentlemen,  and  these 
lots  are  worth  §1,000.  He  is  not  a  speculator.  He  is  not 
connected  with  that  "  gang  of  Ninth  Ward  speculators  "  who 
are  said  to  be  "kicking  up  a  row"  in  the  city  of  Brooklyn 
about  the  Park.  There  are  many  of  my  own  friends,  who 
have  purchased  land  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  Park, 
who,  if  it  was  removed,  would  sustain  a  similar  loss.  Would 
gentlemen  who  own  lots  facing  the  Park  on  Ninth  Avenue 
think  it  fair  to  remove  the  line  from  Ninth  to  Tenth  Avenue? 
Would  they  think  it  good  faith  ?  Would  purchasers  of  prop" 
erty  on  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York,  facing  Central  Park,  deem 
it  good  faith  to  have  the  park  line  removed  back  to  Sixth 
Avenue.  Let  it  once  be  understood  that  such  fluctuations  of 
property  are  likely  to  occur  in  Brooklyn,  and  what  capitalists 
will  invest  their  money  here  ?  Have  any  one  of  you  had  occa- 
sion, recently,  to  secure  a  loan  upon  your  house  ?  You  used 
to  pay  one  per  cent,  brokerage.  How  much  have  you  had  to 
pay  within  the  last  year?  Every  lawyer  knows  that  capitalists 
avoid  the  city.  The  public  faith  should  be  like  Caesar's  wife, 
above  suspicion.    Now,  I  say,  that  although  a  thousand  dollars 


16 


to  this  or  that  man  makes  little  difference  to  the  general  pub- 
lic, it  is  a  wrong  to  take  it  without  compensating  him.  The 
city  had  better  pay  millions  of  dollars  than  to  violate  its  honor 
and  public  pledge. 

Mr.  Yan  Cott  said  the  other  night  that  he  would  dismiss 
the  Park  with  this  simple  epigram :  "  If  the  land  could  not 
be  sold,  it  would  not  be."  The  Eagle  well  said,  that  this  was 
either  the  ruse  of  a  lawyer,  or  that  he  could  not  answer  the 
statements  that  have  been  made  on  our  side  of  the  question. 
Let  me,  for  example  sake,  illustrate  this  point  by  a  somewhat 
analogous  case  having  reference  to  the  rights  and  responsibili- 
ties of  a  private  citizen  :  I  own,  for  instance,  one  hundred 
acres  of  land,  which  are  comparatively  valueless;  but  seeking 
to  improve  its  value,  I  map  out  thirty  or  forty  acres  in  the 
center  of  it  for  a  park,  and  sell  the  adjacent  lots.  After  ten 
years  I  conclude  that  it  is  not  a  good  speculation — close  the 
park,  and  attempt  to  sell  it.  Do  you  suppose  the  law  would 
allow  me  to  do  so,  when  I  had  induced  persons  to  purchase 
lots  on  the  theory  that  the  park  was  to  remain,  and  when  I 
had  pledged  myself,  in  issuing  my  map,  that  it  should  be  a 
park  for  all  time?  I  am  aware  that  there  is  a  difference 
between  the  cases,  but  the  principle  is  the  same.  The  public 
should  not  be  allowed  to  do  that  which  is  forbidden  to  the 
citizen. 

More  than  this,  by  the  act  which  created  the  Park,  the 
Commissioners  received  authority  to  issue  the  city  bonds  to 
pay  for  and  improve  the  Park.  Those  bonds  were  issued.  In 
the  act  the  whole  area  of  the  Park  was  pledged  for  their  re- 
demption. The  bonds  have  gone  broadcast.  Some  are  out 
of  the  country  and  others  are  here  and  there  all  over  the 
country.  Is  it  right  to  attempt  to  withdraw,  even  seemingly, 
from  the  operation  of  that  "pledge,  a  portion  of  this  land,  and 
thus  depreciate  the  apparent  value  of  the  bonds.  That  was 
what  the  Commission  attempted  to  do  last  winter.  And  this 
year  they  have  very  wisely  sought  to  obviate  the  objection  by 
providing  for  a  sinking  fund  in  the  sale  of  this  land  ;  but  they 
cannot  do  it,  even  in  that  way. 


17 


Every  bond  is  a  lien  upon  every  lot  in  the  plot.  Who  will 
buy  it  under  such  circumstances?  I  don't  care  if  John  Jacob 
Astor  or  A.  T.  Stewart,  or  any  one  else  guaranteed  the  col- 
lection of  these  bonds,  capitalists  will  not  come  in  and  build 
on  land  where  there's  a  lien  ? 

The  legal  point  upon  which  I  place  the  utmost  stress  is 
this :  My  friend  Kinsella  satirically  said,  day  before  yester- 
day, when  the  subject  was  up  for  consideration  before  the 
Senate  Committee,  of  municipal  affairs,  that  the  bar  of  this 
city  was  divided — Mr.  Goodrich  was  on  one  side,  and  all  the 
rest  of  the  bar  on  the  other.  I  believe  he  said  he  had  found 
no  lawyer  who  agreed  with  me.  I  think  he  talks  only  on 
one  side,  though  he  sometimes  talks  on  two  sides  in  the 
Eagle.  The  Eagle  of  six  months  ago  and  the  Eagle  of  to-day 
being  very  different  affairs. 

"When  the  Commissioners  took  this  land  in  I860,  they  took 
an  easement,  as  it  is  called — that  is,  the  right  to  use  the  land 
forever  for  a  public  park  and  for  that  only.  That  was  all 
there  was  any  necessity  of  taking.  It  is  all  the  railroads 
take  ;  it  is  all  the  State  takes  when  it  takes  land  for  a  canal, 
and  can  we  imagine  anything  more  permanent  than  that. 

They  paid  the  owners,  but  the  owners  never  deeding  the 
property  willingly,  you  will  perceive  that  the  Commission 
took  it  by  the  right  of  eminent  domain. 

My  friend  Britton  stated  very  clearly  the  other  night  what 
the  right  of  eminent  domain  was.  It  is  the  power  (and  a 
dangerous  power  it  is)  which  authorizes  the  State  to  take 
private  property  for  public  use  only,  and  then  only  upon 
compensation  to  the  owner.  So  dangerous  is  this  power  that 
the  law  not  only  limits  it,  trammels  it,  and  binds  it  by  the 
closest  guards,  but  the  common  law,  natural  right,  back  of 
and  behind  all  constitutions,  provides  that  private  property 
shall  not  be  taken  under  any  circumstances  for  private  pur- 
poses. 

Almost  the  first  words  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
relate  to  protection  and  security  of  private  property  as  well 
as  of  persons  and  life. 


TJ8 

\ 1  jThus\^y  the, Mrslv  poorer  and  f  <J ange*pns  wgn,t ,  o f  -em in fen  t 
domain  the.  Commission  acquired ^hi^^opQ^tj^  and  .tljey;  teo.k 
only  a  right,  . for  ,p(ut>lic  purposes,  rTherethey  stood  for  foiir 
years.  In  their  report  fqr/7the  present  year,  they  say  that  the 
bonds  which  had  been  issued  for  , the  payment  of  this  land 
were  avoided-  by  capitalists.  Capitalists  said  if  we  come  to 
foreclose  these  bonds  we  shall  have  to  sell  this  property.  But 
the  instant  we,  under  our  mortgage,  sell  this  property,. it  is 
diverted  from  a  public  use  to  a  private  use,  and  will  revert  to 
the  former  owners.  They  said  to  the  Legislature  in  1865, 
f  You  must  give  us  an  act  that  will  give  the  city  the  fee  simple 
absolute  of  the  property  and  ultimate  right ! ";  They,  therefore, 
acquired  again  by  this  right  of  eminent  domain  the  fee  sim- 
ple in  1865..  possibly  they  did  .and,  possibly  ^ — if  they  had 
taken  that  property  and  used  it  I  don't  know  that  they  would 
not  have  acquired  a  title  which  would  have  enabled  them  to 
give  a  good  title  to  the  fee  of  the  property  when  the  public 
necessity  which  required  the  taking  for  a  public  use  had  passed 
away— I  do  not  say  that  I  believe  this  to  be  a  sound  or  cor- 
rect doctrine,  but  as  the  Court  of  Appeals  of  this  State  have 
so  decided  I  must  respectfully  bow  to  it,  until  time  and  op- 
portunity are  given  to  review  that  opinion  in  .the  Supreme 
C  -urt  of,  the  United  States. 

But  in  this  case  the  facts  are  very  different,  and  the  case  of 
Hey  ward  in  the  Xth  of  New  York  Eeports  upon  which  our 
opponents  rely,  has  no  application  whatever  ,  to  the  present 
case.  That  was  a  case  where  land  was  taken  by  eminent 
domain,  was  used  for  the  public  purpose  for  which  it  was 
taken,  the  act  itself  authorizing  the  sale  when  such  use  should 
have  ceased,  and  in  course  of  time  the  necessity  for  the  use 
ceasing,  the  land  was  sold.  That  .is  far  different  from  this 
case.    Here  the  land  has  never  been  used  at  all  for  a  park.  . 

.  I  grant  that  the  Legislature  of  the  State  is  the  Supreme 
judge  upon  the  existence  of  this  necessity,  and  that  when  it 
said  in  I860  that  a  necessity  existed  which  required  the  taking 
of  an  casement  for  the  'public  benefit,  it  was  the,  sole  and 
final  judge  *of  that  necessity  and  that  that  judgment  is  not 
open  to  review  in  the  courts. 


96 


•  "When  the  Legislature  of  1S65  said  it  was  necessary  to  take 
the  fee  although  I  am  un'able  to  discover  any  necessity  for  the 
taking  of  a  fee  for  the  purpose  of  a  public  park,  yet  I  acqui- 
esce in  even  that — but  you  will  observe  that  the  power  which 
makes  the  law  can  unmake  it  provided  private  rights  have 
not  intervened  ;  and  therefore  I  say  that,  although  former 
Legislatures  may  have  declared  the  existence  of  this  public 
necessity,  yet  if  the  present  or  any  future  Legislature  pass  an 
act  authorizing  the  sale  of  the  land  without  its  ever  having: 
been'  used  as  a  park,  they  in  effect  and  by  implication  repeal 
the  declaration  of  -1865',  that  a  public  necessity  KVEROxfeted, 
and  tlrat  upon  a  sale  the  land  will  revert  to  the' former 
cfifrhei&.  'r}  'Ji  '  ornottwitf  a    I  rtoqu  won  n*  ttou 

->For  the  first  time  in  all  this  controversy  we  heard  a  clay  or 
two  since  at  Albany  the  real  reason  why  the  Commissioners 
desired  to  acquire  the  fee  in  1865,  and  their  reason  is  a  proof 
that  the  right  of  eminent  domain  under  which  they  are  act- 
ing,- is  a  harsh  and  dangerous  one,  and  that  there  is  need  of 
so  confining  its  exercise  that  it  shall  not  be  used  to  enable 
private  property  to  be  taken  from  one  person  and  transferred 
to  another.  .  c,  - 

'-Mr.  Taylor,  Counsel  of  the  Park  Commissioners,  stated 
that  in  1865  the -Commissioners  desired  to  obtain  other  lands,  ' 
and  in-order  to  save  expense  consulted  counsel  upon  the 
question  of  the  sale  of  the  easterly  section  ;  they  were  ad- 
vised that  they  could  not  sell  the  land  as  it  had  been  taken 
for  a  -park  only,  and  that  if  the_y  should  sell  it  would  revert 
to  the  original  owners.  As  a  means  therefore  Of  obtaining'a 
title  which  would  enable  them  to  sell  they  were  advised  to 
obtain  tlie  passage  of  the  Act  of  1865,  and  they  did  this  for- 
the  express  purpose  of  obtaining  the  fee  and  then  selling  the 
laiictel      ■       ^    -  •-'   -  oi  b§        Jr  .,_  a  vJr 

Let  us  see  what  other  members  of -the -Bar  have- thought  of 
tWe  'question.  -■•     -  r  •     -  - 

Oh  the  westerly  side  of  the- Central  Park  in  New  York  is 
a^ort  of  excrescence,  called-Manhattan  square.  It  was  taken 
nfifby  '-yeafe :  -ago  for  a  p'ubKc-'park — t aken  by  the-  ■  right-  of  -  i 


20 


eminent  domain — taken  just  as  these  137  acres  of  Prospect 
Park  were  taken,  and  like  them,  lav  unused  for  many  years. 
It  was  then  determined  to  sell  the  land  and  put  the  money 
in  the  public  treasury  ;  but  there  was  another  stupid  lawyer 
who  said  it  could  not  be  done,  and  that  was  Ex-Corporation 
Counsel  and  Judge  Bronson.  to  whom  the  question  was  referred. 
He  decided  that  unless  used  for  park  purposes  the  land  must 
revert  to  the  original  owners ;  and  Manhattan  square  stands 
to-da}-  a  monument  to  the  correctness  of  the  opinion. 

There  is  a  certain  eminent  Judge,  formerly  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  this  district,  who  formerly  owned  land  which  was 
taken  by  the  Park  Commissioners  under  these  acts.  A  gen- 
tleman now  upon  this  platform  recently  offered  to  give  him 
25  per  cent,  of  the  amount  he  had  received  for  his  land  for  a 
transfer  of  this  same  shadowy  right  of  reversion,  and  the 
judge  refused  the  offer. 

Should  the  land  be  sold  it  will  be  found  that  every  man 
who  buys  a  foot  of  the  land,  buys  a  lawsuit,  and  who  will  buy 
at  any  fair  price  under  these  circumstances  I 

Mr.  Goodiich  here  referred  to  the  cases  in  2nd  and  20th 
Barbour's  Reports  as  sustaining  his  views  : 

And  now.  who  will  buy  a  law  suit  \  Call  together  your 
capitalists.  Bring  the  whole  city  together  and  let  the  Com- 
missioners stand  up  and  describe  the  beauty  of  the  lots  and 
surroundings,  and  offer  them  for  sale  undei  an  act  like  this, 
and  some  private  individual  stands  up  and  says,  "  I  want  to 
let  whoever  buys  this  land  know  that  he  will  have  to  buy  a 
lawsuit."  How  much  will  be  bid  for  a  law  suit,  if  you  are 
fond  of  litigation  \  Some  time  ago  I  had  occasion,  in  the 
course  ot  my  business,  to  take  the  title  of  some  property  for 
an  English  client.  I  took  it  in  my  own  name,  and  seeking 
ibr  a  loan  upon  it  applied  to  some  Insurance  Companies  for  a 
loan  and  their  counsel  examined  and  pronounced  the  title 
good.  Having  perfected  the  title,  I  put  up  the  property 
for  sale  and  sold  it  in  parcels  to  four  different  individ- 
uals. Subsequently  one  of  these  sold  to  a  fifth,  so  that 
there  came  to  be  live  lawyers  engaged  in  searching  the 


21 


title.  One  of  these  gentlemen  suggested  a  little  flaw  in 
the  title.  I  didn't  think  there  was  anything  in  it,  of 
course.  I  told  him  he  must  take  the  title.  But  these  four 
others  came  in  and.,  said  there  was  a  flaw  in  the  title.  They  had 
not  made  the  examination,  but  they  trusted  the  first  lawyer. 
"But  why  don't  .you  examine  it  for  yourselves?"  I  said. 
They  replied,  "  W»  want  a  marketable  title,  and  if  any  law- 
yer rejects  or  condemns  or  questions  the  title  we  cannot  take 
it."  They  refused  it  because  they  did  not  want  to  buy  a  law- 
suit. [Applause].  There  is  not  a  lawyer  in  this  audience  but 
will  do  the  same  thing  when  this  question  comes  up.  It  is  an 
illustration  of  the  necessity  of  having  a  clear,  marketable,  un- 
disputed title  when  you  want  to  sell  real  estate.  I  come  back 
to  my  old  question,  Who  wants  to  buy  a  lawsuit  ? 

We  have  got  none  too  much  land  in  our  Park  to-day.  It  is 
not  the  question  whether  we  shall  purchase  land,  but  whether, 
having  the  land  in  our  possession  we  had  not  better  keep  it  ? 
Now,  how  much  will  it  bring  ?  There  are  137  acres.  The 
Commissioners  want  to  keep  the  reservoir.  I  pass  over  the  very 
evident  question  of  its  beauty  and  its  usefulness.  The  Commis- 
sioners want  to  save  40  acres.  That  leaves  0  7  acres.  They  have 
laid  out  IT  acres  in  unusually  broad  boulevards.  We  asked 
the  Commissioners  for  their  maps  for  the  purpose  of  explaining 
the  matter  here  to-night,  but  they  did  not  see  fit  to  let  us 
have  them.  These  97  acres  contains  1067  lots.  'Competent 
engineers  in  this  city  have  estimated  that  it  will  cost  on  the 
average  81,000  a  lot  to  put  that  land  in  condition  to  sell. 
That  is  $1,000,000.  The  Commissioners  have  asked  the 
Legislature  for  power  to  raise  at  any  one  time  $100,000  to  do 
it.  If  it  costs  them  $10,000  an  acre  to  improve  land  which  they 
declare  was  naturally  a  park — which  is  enough  money  to  put 
a  Brussels  carpet  over  the  whole  surface  of  the  park — what  will 
it  cost,  under  their  supervision,  to  build  up  from  a  depth  of 
fifty  feet,  as  it  is  in  some  places  in  Washington  Avenue  ? 
There  is  another  problem.  The  Commissioners  could  have 
contracted  for  the  excavation  of  the  skating  lake  at  30  cent . 
a  cubic  yard.    It  cost  them  70  cents  by  days'  work. 


What  will  lots  sell  for  ?  Well,  they  will,  when  prepared  fty 
the  Commissioners  for  sale,  have  cost  us  a  thousand  dollars 
already,  besides  what  we  have  paid  for  the  land  originally; 
Who  will  even  bid  a  thousand  dollars  for  a  lot  and  a  lawsuit  ? 
[Applause]. 

The  city  lives  by  its  revenues--~its  ever-increasing  val- 
uation.    The  Commissioners  say  that  the^  lands  lying  near 
the   Park   have  increased  thirty-three  millions  of  dollars' 
in  value.     The  taxes  on  that'  valuation  are  enough  to  pay 
for  the  Park.    I  am  in  favor  of  the- park.    I  am  in  favor 
of  the  whole  Park.     [Applause],    All  along  Washington' 
Avenue  is  a  great  frontage  to-day,  and  in  -time-  those  lots 
will  be  worth  $10,000  ;  yes,  $20,000  each.    The  people  of  • 
the  city  should  be  ever  ,  ready  for  and  favorable  to  public 
improvements  of  all  kinds,  provided  they  are  carried  out 
economically.     Destroy  this  frontage  and  the  lots  will  fall - 
from  $10,000  to  $1,500.  But  the  Commissioners  say,  u  If  you1 
draw  in  your  frontage,  we  don't  see  but  you  will  have  just 
as  much  trontage  as  before."  ....... 

They  propose  to  keep  a  strip  all  along  Fiatbush  avenue- 
262  feet  wide,  on  which  to  erect  schools,  public  buildings,  etc.1' 
Then  those  lots  would  have  no  frontage  on  the  park,  but  would 
be  only  back  lots  to  public  buildings.  What  would  they  be 
worth,  according  to  the  Commissioners'  plan,  as  shown  by 
their  map.  They  propose  to  destroy  all  present  frontage  of  lofts 
on  the  Park  except  on  the  Plaza. 

Now,  let  us  see  what  they  estimate.  We  sometimes  com- 
plain of  these  Commissioners,  not;  because  they  take  our 
money  but  because  they  do  not  take  care  of  our  money.  They^ 
allow  one  gentleman  to  run  the  whole  Commission.  They 
don't  take  our  money  and  use  it  with  the  same  precaution 
that  they  would  their  own.  There  are  gentlemen' in  this' 
Commission  to  whom  we  could  afford  to  pay  $50,000  a  year 
if  they  would  take  it  in  their  own  hands  and  give  their  time 
anr3  personal  attention  to  it. 

Last  year  the  Commission  wanted  two  millions  of  dollars 
for  the  further  improvement  of  the  easterly  section  •  of  the A> 


Park,  and  yet  the  completion  of  it  had 'been  proposed  by  other 
parties  for  $625,000.  They  now  want  one  million.  We  have 
had  a  bill  in  Albany  to  reorganize  this  Commission,  and  I  am 
glad  to  say  that  it  has  been  reported  favorably  by  the  Assem- 
bly Committee  to-day,  after  a  careful  hearing.  ["Great  ap- 
plause]/ I  am  going  to  close  with  just  one  illustration  of  the 
economical  ideas  of  the  Commissioners. 

The  Commissioners  wanted 'water.     They  went  to  the 
Water  Commission  and  said  :  "  Gentlemen,  we  want  you  to 
supply  us -with  water."    The  Water  Commission  wanted 
$2,500  a  year,  and  the  Park  Commission  would  not  pay  it. 
The  city  taxes,  you  will  observe,  would  not  have  been  in- 
creased thereby.    It  was  like  taking  money  out  of  your  left 
hand  pocket  and  putting  it  into  your  right.     They  would 
not  pay  it,  &nd  they  have  commenced  to  dr^in  Long  Island. 
[Laughter  and  applause.]     They  went  out  under  a.  hill 
and  got  a  quicksand.     They  built  an  iron  rim,  and  on 
that  rim  a  brick  wall  fifty  feet  in  diameter.    Then  they 
dug  out  the  sand  from  the  centre  and  let  the  wall  down 
—after  getting  pretty  well  down  it  broke  and  then  they  built 
another  inside.    Then  some  one  said  :  "  Why  didn't  you 
build  a  ten  foot  well,  it  would  have  given  you  just  as  much 
water  ?  "    I  don't  care  about  that.     It  cost  them — I  don't 
know  what.    They  don't  tell  us.    They  give  in  their  annual 
report  minute  details  of  other  expenses,  but  not  what  that 
well  cost.    Engineers  tell  me  that  the  well  has  cost  over  a 
hundred  thousand  dollars.    Some  of  the  Commissioners  are 
here  and  they  can  tell  us  if  they  will,  I  should  like  to  hear. 
[A  voice,  "  speak  up."]    My  guess  is  that  it  has  cost  nearer 
two,  hundred  thousand,    including  everything  necessary  to 
put  it  in  running  order.    What  will  be  the  expense  to  us 
year  by  year  of  this  well  ?    How  many  thousand  dollars  will 
it  cost  per  year  to  run  it,  including  interest,  wear  and  tear, 
and  salaries  and  supplies  ?    And  when  they  have  done  with 
it  they  might  have  taken  $2,500  out  of  one  pocket  and  put  it 
in  the  other,  and  had  just  as  much  benefit  from  it. 
s  It  was  stated  last  winter  and  never  denied,  that  there  was  a 


24 


majority  of  only  one  in  this  Commission  in  favor  of  the  sale 
of  the  Park.  For  four  years  they  have  asked  the  Legislature 
for  permission  to  sell,  and  for  four  years  it  has  been  refused. 
For  two  consecutive  years  the  Common  Council  has  voted  unan- 
imously against  the  sale  of  the  easterly  section  of  the  Park, 
and  every  year  the  legislative  delegation  from  Brooklyn  has 
worked  against  this  sale.  We  are  stigmatized  as  a  gang 
of  speculators  located  in  the  Tsinth  Ward.  Read  the  call  for 
this  meeting.  Read  the  names  of  the  Vice-Presidents  here 
to-night.  Decide  for  yourselves  whether  they  are  speculators. 
If  itwere  not  for  the  respectability  of  the  several  gentlemen 
composing  the  Board  of  Commissioners,  they  would  have  been 
changed  years  ago.  A  gentleman  said  to  me  the  other  day  : 
"  There's  one  reason  why  I  don't  think  this  Park  should  be 
sold.  Providence  has  put  upon  real' estate  one  character- 
istic— it  cannot  be  run  away  with,  and  if  it  is  put  into  money 
it  may  be.'1 

The  speaker  [who  received  frequent  applause]  closed  his 
address  with  congratulations  upon  the  liberal  attendance,  its 
respectability,  and  the  fact  that  it  had  not  been  drummed 
together. 


The  Chairman — Gentlemen,  the  other  side  of  the  question 
will  now  be  heard. 

Mr.  A.  A.  Low — [from  the  audience] — I  would  ask  the  gen- 
tleman who  has  just  spoken,  on  one  particular  point,  a  ques- 
tion. He  is  so  well  informed  on  all  others,  I  will  not  mention 
them.  Tn  respect  to  the  well,  without  going  into  figures,  let 
me  ask  the  gentleman  what  it  costs  the  city  of  Brooklyn  for 
its  twenty  millions  of  gallons  a  clay.  I  will  not  say  what  the 
well  is  capable  of  supplying,  but  if  it  supplies  one  million  gal- 
lons a  day,  I  think  it  is  very  cheap  at  $100,000.  I  under- 
stood the  Board  of  Water  Commissioners  to  say  that  the 
present  supply  was  nearly  exhausted.  I  hold  that  it  is  a  mat- 
ter of  economy,  then,  that  the  well  supplying  1,000,000  gallons 


per  day,  should  cost  only  $100,000.  Again,  there  is  a  differ, 
ence  between  the  Park  Commission  and  the  Water  Commis- 
sion. The  Park,  it  is  well  understood,  is  used  and  maintained 
not  by  the  eastern  section  of  the  city  alone,  but  by  the  first 
twelve  Wards  of  the  city.  [Loud  applause].  And  when  the 
first  twelve  Wards  take  $25,000  out  of  their  pockets  they  give 
it  to  the  whole  city. 

Mr.  Low's  remarks  were  subject  to  disagreeable  inter- 
ruptions from  various  parts  of  the  house,  and  an  occasional 
ejaculation  from  the  stage,  but  the  applause  which  followed 
them  gave  evidence  that  there  was  a  large  infusion  in  the 
audience  of  those  in  favor  of  the  sale.  When  Mr.  Low 
finished  he  withdrew  from  the  room,  much  to  the  regret  of 
the  presiding  officer  and  others  who  desired  him  to  occupy 
the  platform.  Others  hissed.  Others  said  let  him  go.  The 
Chairman  arose  and  said  : 

Gentleman,  Mr.  Low  has  made  one  mistake,  and  it  is  this. 
The  Eastern  District  pays  the  same  towards  its  maintenance 
as  the  Western.  The  well  was  incapable  of  pumping  a  mil- 
lion gallons*'a  day. 

Question  from  a  Citizen — How  much  does  the  Eighteenth 
W ard  pay  towards  the  Park  ? 

The  Chairman — The  Eighteenth  Ward,  in  which  I  am  a 
tax-payer,  pays  its  proportion  of  the  Park.  The  original 
cost  ot  the  Park  was  intended  to  be  laid  on  the  twelve  wards, 
but  that  assessment  was  never  made  Another  law  was  pas- 
sed providing  for  another  assessment  upon  the  whole  city, 
which  was  never  attended  to.  Then  one  was  passed  under 
which  the  Commissioners  are  now  acting  upon  any  lands 
benefited. 

A  voice — Who  owned  the  Clarkson  farm  \  Will  the  gen- 
tleman please  state  what  was  the  valuation  and  what  was 
given  for  the  property  sold  ? 

The  Chairman — That  is  what  I  cannot  tell.  They  call  me 
an  old  rat,  but  I  cannot  follow  up  all  the  holes  and  crevices. 
Gentlemen,  it  is  getting  late. 

Another  citizen — If  they  have  the  power  to  sell  this  pro 


m 

perty  of  £he  Park  is  there  any  security  for  property  anywhere 
in  the  citt*t>f  Brooklyn  I  There  are  men  here  whose  property 
wTas  tak^ijT  from  them,  and  they  are  not  satisfied.  Some 
thought  it  was  a  godsend.  No  one  was  ever  satisfied — (ex- 
cept Litchfield,  a  voice  responded.")  and  the  speaker  subsided. 

The  Chairman — The  Commissioners  for  appraising  the  land 
for  those  little  Parks  on  the  hill,  awarded  to  the  different 
owners  a  certain  amount  of  the  money.  They  were  dissatis-  * 
tied  and  the  award  was  increased.  A  Dr.  Squib  who  owned 
some  property,  would  not  take  any  more  than  the  original 
award,  and  thought  it  fully  up  to  the  value  of  the  land.  This 
is  the  only  instance  where  property  has  ever  been  taken  from 
any  one  that  I  ever  knew  to  be  satisfied. 

The  Chairman  then  introduced  Mr.  Edmund  Driggs.  Who 
said  it  was  too  late  to  enter  into  any  long  disuession  of  this 
subject.  In  fact,  it  '^was  entirely  unnecessary.  His  Honor 
the  Mayor  and  Mr.  Goodrich  had  gone  over  the  ground  so. 
fully  that  it  seemed  unnecessary,  but  he  wished  to  recite  a  few 
facts  on  the  subject  of  buying  law  suits  in  the  event  of  the  com  - 
missioners  having  power  to  sell  this  property.  Last  week, 
said  the  speaker,  I  met  Mr.  Wm.  D.  Murphy,  a  large  property 
holder  in  the  cities  of  New  York  and  Brooklyn.  He  was  in 
company  with  one  of  the  editors  of  the  World  newspaper. 
Said  he,  "Mr.  Driggs,  I  understand  you  are  about  going 
to  aid  in  the  defeat  of  the  passage  of  a  law  to  sell  a 
part  of  your  Park  grounds  in  Brooklyn.  I  told  him  it 
was  so,  and  said  "I  wish  you  would  go  with  me.  You 
own  much  property  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Park,  and  have  had 
property  taken  from  you  by  the  commissioners."  "I  will  not 
go,"  said  he ;  "If  I  should,  I  would  urge  the  passage  of  a  law 
for  sale  of  the  ground.  I  have  been  opposed  to  it,  but  I  have 
become  converted."  "What  has  changed  your  opinion  ?"  said 
I.  "Why."  said  he.  "if  they  attempt  to  sell  that  property  I 
will  take  good  care  that  I  get  possession  of  the  property  they  got 
from  me  without  my  consent,  or  I  will  get  my  money  back." 

Mr  Driggs  continued  his  remarks  upon  some  of  the  points 
already  given  at  length  by  preceeding  speakers  for  twenty 
minutes,  after  which  the  meeting  adjourned. 


